Bailar Conmigo (Dance With me)
by AmericanAirlines
Summary: After Helga blacks out at a latin nightclub, she has to peice together her night that involved a certain someone. Rated M for language and adult situations.
1. Chapter 1

I have never written one of these before. But I was watching House Hunters: Renovation, and the couple was fighting all the time because the wife was being a total bitch. Anyone ever notice that the couples seem to hate each other at the end of those? The houses always look phenomenal though. Anyawy, I thought, I could write about a better couple than that. And so I was inspired. Please feel free to review or point out any spelling or grammar mistakes. I'm terrible at writing, or anything that hast to do with English. I could do calculus for days, but i've never been great at writing. So go ahead and be as harsh as you want. A good majority of these events are things that have happened to me.

I do not own _Hey Arnold!_

"I'm a little nervous," Helga said. She was currently sitting in the back of an Über, wearing a long sleeved LBD (little black dress) and black suede lace up heels. Her hair was thrown up into a messy high ponytail. To say she was uncomfortable was an understatement.

"Come on Helga, its girls night! You promised you would try something new besides sitting in our apartment drinking wine and watching _Love Actually_ again," Phoebe said. She was wearing a modest t-shirt dress in a blue similar to the shirt she wore throughout her childhood and nude heels. "This will be fun."

"But a Latin club? I don't even know how to Salsa or Meringue or whatever," Helga groaned, trying to pull her dress down.

"Its pronounced mer-en-gey, Helga, and it doesn't matter because its Bachata night," Phoebe corrected.

"I can't do that either!" Helga said, but then sighed in defeat. She had to admit, even though she was wildly uncomfortable, she looked great. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

The über suddenly stopped. Helga tipped the driver and and walked towards the doors of the club. The bouncer checked her and Phoebe's ID's, and then the walked inside. The club was packed. There were bright lights flashing everywhere and people dancing everywhere.

Helga observed the crowd, who all seemed to know how to bachata. "If i'm going to do that I need a few drinks first," Helga said pointing to the bar. Phoebe nodded in agreement and they walked over to the bar together.

Helga looked over the drinks specials menu, not recognizing anything on the menu. Aside from the occasional glass of wine or beer, she didn't really drink much. "What do you recommend?" She asked the bartender.

"A blow job," The bartender said, not looking up from the drink he was mixing. "Excuse me?" helga shrieked. The bartender looked up at her, "Its a drink. It's made from Irish Cream, Kahlúa and Amaretto toped with whipped cream. It's very sweet."

"Oh..."Helga said a little embarrassed, "I'll take one of those-"

"As a chaser, we'll also take 5 shots of tequila," Phoebe said. Helga raised an eyebrow at her. "What?" Phoebe said as the shots were placed in front of them, "I work 55 hours a week for my residency, I deserve to have a little fun tonight."

"Have it your way," Helga said as she downed the shots. The blowjob wasn't much of a chaser, but it tasted a heck of a lot better than the tequila. She could still feel the tequila burning her throat. That definitely cleared my sinuses, Helga thought.

"Lets go dance!" Phoebe said, grabbing Helga's hand and pulling her to the dance floor. Two guys approached them as soon as they stopped in the middle of the floor. "Want to dance?" The taller of the two asked. Helga barely had a chance to reply before Phoebe grabbed the other and started to dance.

Helga never was the most "graceful," per say, but she normally could pick up things pretty quickly. The bachata was a different story. She kept stepping on her partners feet and couldn't get into the rythym. She looked over at Phoebe, who looked like she had known how to bachata her whole life. Phoebe always was a fast learner. _I guess the tequila melted away her shyness..._ Helga thought.

"Ow," her partner cried. _Shit, I stepped on his foot again_ , Helga thought. "I'm sorry," she said, "I've never done this before, and i'm not the best dancer."

"Here, let me help you," He said, pulling her close. Helga noticed he had a heavy Cuban accent. "Stop looking at your feet, and focus on the music instead. Let me lead you, and sway your hips to the same beat of the music." Helga rolled her eyes, but followed his advice. _What do I have to lose, I already look like an idiot,_ Helga thought.

Helga followed her partners lead and moved to the music. She smiled a bit, picking it up. "See you've got it!" Her partner smiled. "Bachata is easy, it's Salsa thats difficult. I'm crap at that," He laughed. Helga giggled, "Remind me not to come here on Salsa night then."

"Yeah, I did once and looked like a complete idot. People looked at me like I was crazy. You're Cuban but you don't know how to Salsa? Disgrace!" He joked. "Well i'm Hungarian and Russian, so I only know how to clog," Helga said. Her partner looked at her in suprise, "Really?" he asked.

Helga laughed, "No I don't, I guess were both a disgrace to our heritiage." Her smiled at her, "I guess we are, he laughed." He twirled her around and they continuted dancing. "It might just be the tequila finally kicking in, but I think i'm getting better at this," Helga said, though she knew the tequila was starting to get to her. She could feel hear head spinning and things around her started to become blurry.

"Discúlpame, puedo bailar con ella?" A stranger asked. "Por supuesto," Her partner replied, and walked away. Helga watched her partner go, not sure why he just left her. She turned around and her new partner pulled her in to dance. "I haven't seen you in a while," he remarked, chuckling.

Helga raised an eyebrow. She recognized his voice. She looked up at her partners green eyes. Her eyes widened in realization as he laughed at her reaction. It was-!

Helga groaned and sat up in her bed. Her head was pounding. "I knew I shouldn't have drank those shots of tequila last night." She said, rubbing her temples. "I need some acetaminophen and a gallon of water." She pushed the covers off herself. She looked down at herself. "Well I must be a pretty coherent drunk if I was able to dress myself in my pajamas.

Suddenly she heard the shower turn on. Helga jumped and fell out of her bed. Who is in my shower?! She thought. Helga quickly crawled to her bedroom door and went out into the living room, closing the door quietly behind her.

"Ohayōgozaimasu, Helga," Phoebe said, sipping some tea and looking over notes. "Where did you disappear to last night?"

"What do you mean?" Helga asked. "All I remember is dancing with that Cuban guy and some other guy, coming home..."

"You don't remember last night?" Phoebe asked. "No nothing! What happened?" "You disappered after dancing with the that guy, and after a few hours I found you, took you home and put you to bed."

"Then do you know who is in my shower?" Helga asked

Phoebe raised her eyebrows. "No Helga, I have no clue-"

The was a knock at the door. Helga and Phoebe glanced at the door. Helga got up and slowly opened the door. It was...

The Cuban guy from last night. "Hey...you," Helga said. "Hey Helga," He said, smiling. "I figured you wouldn't remember anything, so i'm Julían, nice to meet you again. You left your shoes at my place so I thought I would return them before I have to go to practice."

Helga had so many questions, but she narrowed it down to one big one that was nagging her. "We didn't...you know..." Helga said. "What sleep together?" Julían said.

Helga nodded. "Oh yeah we did, all night long. You actually applauded when we were finished," Julían said. Both Helga and Phoebe gasped. Julían just laughed. "Of course we didn't sleep together, I'm gay, remember? I told you that when we were playing soccer last night."

Helga gave him a questioning look. "Remember? I play for the New England Revolution. Arnold, you and I broke into Gillette stadium-"

"Arnold?!" Helga gasped."Yeah...Arnold. Blonde hair, kind of tan, football-shaped head. You decided to play keeper and he tried to score a goal on you. The ball hit your side pretty hard, i'm suprised you aren't in pain this morning, he is actually a pretty good striker. But thanks to that blocked goal by I got to do hat trick!" Julían said.

"ARNOLD hit me with a soccer ball?" Helga said. Julían gave her a questioning look. "Yes, thats what I just said-"

"Helga kind of has had a little crush Helga since we were kids," Phoebe explained, gesturing for him and Helga to sit on the couch as she closed the door.

"Ow!" Helga exclaimed rubbing her side. "Oh I guess it does hurt," Julían laughed, "But I thought you both were already dating? You were holding hands the whole way there and you kissed him on the cheek."

"I did WHAT?" Helga exclaimed.

Julían sighed, "Ok, this is what happened..."


	2. Chapter 2

"This is what happened," Julían said.

"Discúlpame, puedo bailar con ella?" _Excuse me, can I dance with her?_ A stranger asked. "Por supuesto," _Of course_ Julían replied and walked away. He could feel Helga watching him as he walked away."I haven't seen you in a while," he heard Helga's new partner said. Julían went to the bar and ordered another drink.

He watched his friend Darrius dance with Helga's friend, looking down at his feet and moving very stiffly. He laughed as he remembered the last time he dragged Darrius to a latin club. It was when they both were in college at Duke. Darrius drank too much and projectile vomited on his first dance partner. It was hilarious.

"Gracias," Julian said as the bartender set his drink down. He downed his drink quickly, and as soon as his glass hit the bar top he saw Helga and the guy she was dancing with standing in front of him.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"No, we both just realized that neither of us are very good at bachata," Helga laughed.

"I only know how to Tango," the guy said. Helga giggled. Julían raised his eyebrow. Whats so funny about that? He thought.

Then an idea popped into his head. "How about we make this night memorable?" He said, a mishcevious grin on his face.

"What did you have in mind?" Helga asked.

The three of them were standing in front of Gillette stadium.

"Isn't this where the Patriots play?" The guy asked.

"Yes, whatever your name is, the New England Revolution. plays. A friend of mine plays for this team." Julian replied, withholding the information that he also played for the team.

"My name is Arnold," Arnold said,extending his hand.

"nice to meet you," Julian replied, shaking his hand.

"So what are we doing here? I hate the Patriots,"Helga asked

"I don't like them much eihter, but we're breaking into it," Julian said.

"Awesome," Helga replied, a smile spreading on her face as they started walking towards the stadium.

"Hold on, I don't think this is such a good idea…"Arnold said.

"Don't be such a wet blanket," Julían said.

Arnold looked like he was about to protest, but then Helga giggled. Arnold turned and looked at Helga with something in his eyes that Julían couldn't place, then agreed to go in.

Julian was not lost on this reaction, though Helga seemed to be. He took note of it and continued into the stadium.

"So these are the locker rooms," Julian said, "Do you guys want to play a game? There are some cleats over there…"

"Lets do it!" Helga giggled and then fell over onto a bench. _Looks like those drinks finally hit her,_ Julían thought. Arnold sat down and grabbed Helga's hand.

"Are you sure you're ok? You seem pretty intoxicated…"Arnold observed.

"Arnold you're holding my hand," Helga said, "and you were holding my hand the whole way here…why was that?"

Arnolds eyes went wide. "I….uh…"

"Great! Its settled then! I call keeper!" Helga yelled as she ran onto the field throwing her heels and running barefoot.

Julian laughed at Arnold's concerned face, which earned a glare from Arnold. Julian could pick up something was going on between Arnold and Helga, but he wasn't quite sure yet. He decided to try and push Arnold to see how far he would go. This night was supposed to be memorable anyway, might as well have a little fun.

"She's pretty hot, don't you think?" Julian said.

"Helga is very beautiful,"Arnold said, still looking in the direction Helga ran off towards.

"Yeah, I bet she'd love a little chorizo," Julian said, watching Arnold's reaction. He smirked when he saw Arnold tense up.

"I hope you're talking about food," He said.

Julian laughed, "Chill güey. You need to relax. Let's go out there so I can beat your ass in soccer." He walked off smirking, knowing Arnold was glaring at him.

Helga was sitting in the middle the goal, scratching at her nail polish.

"Hey Helga, you know as a keeper you actually have to stand up," Julian said, kicking the ball past her and into the goal, narrowly missing her head.

"Hey that almost hit me!" Helga yelped, standing up. "Well maybe if you were a better keep it would have actually hit you and prevented me from scoring a goal on you," Julían retorted, knowing that the ball wouldn't have hit her.

"Leave her alone, she doesn't play soccer,"Arnold said, glaring at him.

"Oh and you can güey?" Julían asked. Arnold didn't answer, just narrowed his eyes at him and continued to glare. "Ok than, you and me. Helga you be keeper. Whoever gets 5 goals first wins. You can have first possession, you'll need all the help you can get." Julían tossed Arnold the ball.

Arnold began dribbling the ball down the field. Julían smirked, deciding to let Arnold have the first goal in order to trick him.

Julian half-heartedly ran at Arnold, who easily dodged him and ran at the goal.

Arnold approached Helga, who was leaning forward anticipating the ball and swaying back and forth. Though that also could be because she was incredibly drunk. Arnold kicked the ball past her into the corner of the goal.

"You're move," Arnold said, as Helga tossed Julían the ball, or at least tried to.

Julían smirked at Arnold. He absent-mindedly dribbled the ball and let Arnold steal possession. He watched Arnold runs down the field and then ran after him. He slide tackled Arnold and stole the ball, scoring a goal easily. Within the first few minutes it was 2-2.

"How about we make this a little more interesting?" Julian said. "If I win, I get to go home with Helga tonight."

"That's not going to happen,"Arnold said firmly.

"Oh really? Don't think you can beat me?" Julian teased.

"I will beat you. And if I win, you stay away from Helga." Arnold said.

"Sounds good to me."

Arnold approached Helga again about to score a goal, when Julían yelled "Helga and I are going to have lots of fun tonight," causing Arnold to kick the ball straight at Helga, hitting her side.

They watched Helga fall to the ground, before running to her.

"Helga are you ok?" Julian asked. Helga jumped back up smiling. "Drunk people don't feel pain," She said, and proceeded to do a cartwheel.

Arnold watched her with a concerned look on her face.

"Lets get back to the game, güey," Julian said.

Arnold glared at him, but got up anyway.

Time to end this, Julían thought. He quickly hat tricked Arnold, winning 5-2.

"Did I forget to mention that I'm actually a striker for the New England Revolution too? Silly me. Looks like I get to claim my prize," Julían said smirking and looking at Helga, who was picking at the grass.

"You stay away from her," Arnold said, glaring at him. "Oh but that wasn't part of the deal. And I won," Julían said.

"I will not let you touch her. I care about her and I don't want to see her get hurt by anyone. She will not be going home with you tonight." Arnold said, fuming.

Julían laughed, "Arnold, its ok. I was just messing with you. I'm gay."

"What? No you're not." Arnold said.

"Yeah I am, here's my boyfriend," Julían said, showing him a picture of him and his boyfriend.

"Woah he's hot," Helga said, walking up behind Arnold.

"He plays for Crystal Palace in England," Julían said, a proud smile on his face.

"Then why did you mess with me?" Arnold asked. His expression looked annoyed but relieved.

Julian shrugged, I wanted a good game out of you," He said, partly lying. Arnold confirmed his suspicion that he had feelings for Helga. "Besides, I know you have feelings for Helga."

Arnold's eyes went wide and his face was turning a bright shade of red. "I uh..."

Suddenly loud sirens were going off in the distance. "Are those the cops?" Arnold yelled over the sirens, clearly looking angry.

"Yeah, and thats our cue to leave," He said, grabbing Helga's wrist and running towards the exit, who for some reason still looked in a state of shock. But Julían knew why.

They all were running as fast as possible, quickly grabbing their things from the locker room and running towards the door. "We're almost there!" Julian yelled. _We're going to be fine,_ Julían thought _. We have to be._

But of course things don't always work out in your favor, because on the other side of the door was a police officer.

"Mierda," Julían mumbled.


	3. Chapter 3

Julían, Arnold and Helga were sitting on the sidewalk handcuffed as the cops filed a report.

"I can't believe you got us arrested!" Arnold whispered furiously to Julían.

"You agreed to go in there, we are all responsibe," Julían replied.

"But it was you're idea!"

"That you went through with!"

"But-"

"Will you both shut up! I'm trying to think of a plan," Helga said, glaring at the both of them. "We are all responsible, and now i'm going to get us out of this."

"Helga, don't. You're drunk and I don't want you getting into more trouble," Arnold said, worry in his eyes.

"Arnolds right, people don't exactly make the best decisions in your state," Julían said.

"Jeeze, relax i'm fine. I can hold my own. If theres one thing Pataki's are good at it is being manipulative. Now watch and learn," Helga said, standing up.

"Helga, don't!" Julían said, but Helga already walked away.

Arnold and Julían both watched as Helga walked up to the officer. Suddenly she burst into tears.

The officer looked sympathetic. "Whats wrong young lady?" He said.

"Please don't arrest us," She said through her sobs. "My friend Julían plays for the New England Revolution and I'm such a big fan. He just wanted to be nice and show me the stadium," pointing at Julían.

"Are you Julían Rodriguez?" The cop asked turning to Julían.

"Yes sir," Julían said.

"Oh wow! I'm a huge fan! I watch every game," the cop said excitedly.

"Thats very nice of you, sir. We appreciate our fans very much," Julían said, still a little shocked.

"Well I can't arrest a famous soccer player! And I don't want to upset this nice young lady here," the cop said. "I'll just let you off with a warning. But don't get into any more trouble!"

"Thank you so much officer..."Helga said looking down at his name tag,"Officer Bukowski."

Officer Bukowski took off their handcuffs and returned to his car. He soon returned with a pen and paper.

"Can I have you're autograph?" Officer Bukowski asked.

"Of course!" Julían said, signing the paper. "To my favourite police officer, thanks for being such a great fan. Come by a game anytime," He read aloud.

"Thanks so much!" Officer Bukowski said. And with that he got in his car and drove off.

Julían and Arnold turned to Helga, dumbfounded.

"How did you do that?" Arnold asked.

"Easy. I saw he was watching soccer highlights on his phone when he was filling out the report in his car. And a good majority of cops don't arrest crying girls. I've gotten out of quite a few tickets that way," Helga said, smirking.

"Wow, I'm impressed," Julían said. "I thought you were going to blow it because of how drunk you were."

"Please, I may have been really drunk on the feild, but Pataki's bounce back quickly," Helga said, putting her hands on her hips.

"I guess they do," Julían laughed, shaking his head. He turned to Arnold, who was looking at Helga again with the same look that Juliían couldn't place earlier. But now Julían recognized it.

"Hey Arnold, can I talk to you for a second?" Julían said.

"Sure," Arnold said, the two of them walking away from Helga.

"Listen, I know how you like Helga," Julían said.

"No I-"

"Save it, I'm not stupid," Julían said. "Now I'm going to go home and call it a night, you and Helga have a good night. Together. All alone."

Arnold smiled. "Thanks Julían."

"Hey don't metion it. I know something when I see it. But we should play soccer again sometime. You're actually alright," Julían said laughing.

"Sure, though next time i'll be prepared and i'll bring my best game. Cuidate la espalda,"Arnold said. _Watch your back._

Julían laughed. "looking forward to it."

They walked over back to Helga.

"You too look awfully chummy," Helga stated.

"Yeah, Arnold's a good guy. But I'm going to turn it in, I have practice tomorrow and I need to go to sleep or coach will kick my ass. Good night y'all," Julían said.

"Y'all?" Helga said, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey I'm a born and raised southerner. Don't judge," Julian said, smiling. "My uber is here, i'll see y'all later."

"And then I got in my car and went home," Julían said.

"You left me and Arnold ALONE," Helga said. "Is that who's in my shower?"

"I hope so," Juliían said.

"Oh Helga! Good for you! You and Arnold finally talked about your feelings. Gerald always said Arnold should just tell you," Pheobe said hugging Helga.

"Wait, what?" Helga said.

There was a knock at the door.

"Ugh I hope its not another one of those Jehovah's Witnesses," Helga groaned, getting up and opening the door.

"Well last time I checked, I wasn't Jehovah's Witness, but I can read a passage from the bible to you if you'd like," Arnold chucked.

"A-Arnold?" Helga said. "Wait, you're not in my shower?"

"No, i'm not. Who's in your shower?" Arnold said, looking a little hurt.

"Uh...no one," Helga mumbled, as they walked into her apartment together.

"Hey, Julían. Sorry about last night," Arnold said, waving to Julían.

"Thats alright, I didn't want to sleep anyway. Maybe coach will shoot me when I fall asleep on the feild," Juliían joked.

Arnold and Julian laughed together.

Helga glared at both of them. "What happened with us last night?" Helga said.

This caught Arnolds attention. He looked at her, his eyes full of hurt. "You don't remember anything from last night? Nothing at all?"

"DOI, thats what I just said. Mind filling me in?" Helga said.

Arnold broke eye contact with Helga and looked at the floor. "I uh…I have to go. This is for you," He said. Putting a pink tulip on the coffee table in front of him.

Helga watched as Arnold quickly left and shut the door behind him.

"Oh Helga…"Phoebe said.

 _What just happened?_ Helga thought


	4. Chapter 4

Helga sat on her couch dumbfounded. What happened last night? And whatever did happen, did she just ruin it?

"Helga! Qué haces? Ir tras èl! Chorra!" Julían said. Helga what are you doing? Go after him! Stupid.

Helga just rolled her eyes and glared at Julían. "I took French, I have _zero_ clue what you're saying. You wanna say it again in English?"

"I said to go after him! I also called you stupid," Julían said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Helga G. Pataki is **not** stupid. I just haven't made up my mind what i'm going to do," Helga said. She really didn't have any idea of what to do. It seemed as if Arnold had finally her feelings. But what if that wasn't really what happened? What if she went after him and he rejected her, or worse, said he just did that in the "heat of the moment?" She didn't think she could go through that again. But if he did have feelings for her, why now? Why at all?

"Clearly you are, because you have feelings for him and he has feelings for you. El burro sabe mas que tu," Julían said. He stood up suddenly and walked to the door. "You can sit here all you want, but doing that will not change the situation you are in. You'll still be alone. Why would you want to waste time being alone when you could be with someone who feels just as deeply as you do? Do what you want, but I'm going to practice. See y'all." Julían closed the door behind him.

Helga and Phoebe stared at the door. Helga had been out of the loop for far too long. She wanted answers. Not knowing was beginning to piss her off. Suddenly Phoebe cleared her throat, bringing Helga out of her thoughts.

"If I may add my input, I think you should at _least_ talk to Arnold. You don't have to confess anything. I think it would be best just to get answers," Phoebe said.

Suddenly Helga remembered what Phoebe said earlier. _Gerald always said Arnold should just tell you_. "What did Gerald say Arnold needed to tell me?" Helga said, raising her eyebrow.

Phoebe's eyes went wide. "Uh...well its not really my place to tell you. And I think it would be better coming from Arnold anyway," Phoebe said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"You and tall hair boy getting serious now?" Helga asked, knowing it would make Phoebe blush. Phoebe and Gerald had been dating for a few years now. They went to college on opposite sides of the country for undergrad, but when Gerald moved to Boston for a job opportunity, Phoebe was overjoyed when he asked her to lunch. Helga was so happy for Phoebe, but she was also envious. Phoebe and Gerald seemed to have the perfect relationship. They put so much trust in each other, and though they didn't see each other as much as they would like to with Gerald's job and Phoebe's residency, when they got together it was like they never were apart.

Phoebe quickly brushed off her embarrassment. "Yes, we are getting pretty serious. And I want you to be happy too. Now get over your fears and go right now!" Phoebe said, putting her hands on her hips. Helga chuckled a little. She knew Phoebe was trying to be assertive, but she was so small and quiet she didn't come off nearly as intimidating as she thought she did.

But Helga through up her hands in defeat. "Okay, okay, it seems my mind has been made up for me. I'll go." She got up and headed towards the door.

But then the shower turned off. Helga looked over her shoulder at her bedroom door.

 **Arnolds POV**

I walked down the street away from Helga's apartment. I felt so many emotions at once, I couldn't pinpoint exactly how I felt. Anger? Disappointment? I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

I thought back to undergrad. Helga and I both somehow managed to get into Northeastern. She studied English and I was a Biochemistry major, so we didn't see each other much except for passing her occasionally on campus and saying a polite hello in which she glared at me in response.

That was until the first day of my last semester of undergrad. I had one general education class left in order to graduate, which meant I was stuck in mythology. I walked down the aisle of the auditorium and I spotted Helga sitting in a seat with her head in her hand, looking extremely bored.

I sat down next to her. She didn't take any notice of me and continued to face forward. "Hello Helga," I said, smiling at her.

Helga's head snapped up to look at me, wide eyed. "A-Arnold? I-I mean what are you doing in this class football-head?" She asked.

"Oh, probably the same as you, I needed a gen-ed and the reviews on rate my professor said this class was an easy A," I said smiling down at her. The professor walked in and turned dimmed the lights. He pulled up a powerpoint and began the lecture about the Theogony.

I had already read the Theogony before the class started, I wanted to get a jump ahead in this class so I wouldn't fall behind in any of my major classes. So I took the time to look at Helga. Though I had seen her on campus a few times I never really got a chance to really look at her. She was wearing jeans and white converse and a plain pink t-shirt. She had her hair down in loose waves around her face and wore tiny gold bow studs in her ears. Her body seemed muscular but lean, like she ran a lot. Her eyebrows were still thick, but were arched instead of the unibrow they used to be. Helga definitely had changed.

She suddenly turned towards him and raised an eyebrow. "What?" She whispered harshly. I blushed and turned away. "Nothing," I said. I didn't realize how long I had been looking at her.

I forced myself to pay attention for the rest of the lecture, not wanting to risk looking at her again. When the lecture was over, she quickly stood up and put her laptop in her bookbag, but I stopped her. "Do you want to study together? I think we could really help each other in this class," I said.

Helga groaned. "Ugh, if thats what _you_ want football-head, sure i'll study with you. But no funny business!" She said, pointing her finger at my chest. At least some things didn't change.

I rolled my eyes. "Ok no funny business Helga. I promise." We exchanged numbers and walked away from each other.

The semester went by relatively smoothly, at least as smooth as it can go when Helga is involved. The first few times we met to study she was pushy and mean. She wouldn't even sit by me in class for a few weeks. But after a while the tension started to melt and she started to be more comfortable around me. We would joke about the boring lecture and how the professors mustache always seemed to have food in it. We would argue over the interpretation of the reading and compete over who would get the best grades on exams.

One night we were sitting in the library studying for our final. Our professor decided to schedule our exam on the very last day of finals week, so basically nobody was on campus anymore. Helga and I had already taken all of our exams and only had Mythology left.

The library was dark and quiet, with the lamp on our desk illuminating the small area with a dim glow. I looked up at Helga, who was writing a practice essay from the prompt our professor posted online. Her eyebrows were furrowed together and her lips were pressed into a thin line. I smiled at the sight. I hadn't seen Helga in two weeks as we studied for our own separate exams. It was nice to see her again.

"Unless staring at me is somehow going to give you the answers to tomorrows exam, I suggest you stop," Helga said in a insulting yet playful tone. She put her usual purple pen down and looked up at me. Her blue eyes seemed clear as day even in the badly lit library.

"Want to take a break? We've been studying for hours and I think my butt has fused with this chair," I joked. She smiled at the joke, but then returned to look at her paper. "No, I really need to ace this final. If I get an A in this class I finish the semester on the chancellor's list."

"Weren't you on the chancellor's list last semester? C'mon Helga, my brain is mush. Please?" I asked. I knew the course content backwards and forwards. If I had to read one more thing about how Zeus raped somebody I thought I was going to lose it.

Helga put her pen down again and glared at me. " _Fine_ football-head. But if we fail this final its on you!"She said. I smiled at her, happy she agreed with me so easily instead of fighting with me like she usually did.

"I don't think we will, but pack up your stuff," I said, shoving my laptop into my bookbag. She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Why? Where are we going?" She asked, though she was already putting her stuff into her backpack. "You'll see,"I said.

Helga followed me as we exited the library. We walked a little ways in campus before I stopped in front of a weeping willow tree. Helga put her hands on her hips.

"A tree. You made me leave the library to come to a stupid tree," She said glaring at me.

"Come on Helga, I love this tree. Nobody can see you inside it but you can see them. Its beautiful," I said, walking under the leaves.

"Oh no, i'm not going under that stupid tree," Helga said, turning her nose in the air. But I grabbed her hand.

"I can't believe i'm sitting under this stupid tree," Helga said, swinging her legs as she sat on a branch.

"Its beautiful up here," I said, looking up at the stars I could see through the leaves.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," She said, looking up at the stars as well.

I looked at her with a smirk. "What did I just hear? Helga G. Pataki admitting I was right? Has the world ended?" I asked laughing.

Helga rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well don't get used to it, bucko," She stated simply. I looked at her eyes. The sparkle she had in her eyes made me smile. I loved looking into them. Wait what? I didn't love anything about Helga G. Pataki. She was my bully. She was mean spirited. She was manipulative. She had no moral conscious whatsoever, her words, not mine.

Though I knew that none of that was true. I continued to stare at her, which made her uncomfortable and she looked down at the ground below her. I moved my hand towards hers and slowly put mine on top of hers. Her head snapped up and looked at me. She looked like she was pondering something, but then eventually she said something I really didn't want to hear.

"We should get back to studying," Helga said, and jumped down from the branch onto the ground. I watched as she picked up her bookbag and I sighed, jumping down from the tree.

We studied quietly to ourselves the rest of the night and took the final the next day. When I got my results a few hours later I texted her to tell her I got an A. She later replied that she got an A+.

I never heard from her again.

I went onto Boston University to get a graduate degree in pharmacology, where I ran into Phoebe who was in the medical school there. I tried to get information on Helga from her when I saw her from time to time, but she never said anything other than how she was doing. When Gerald moved back and started dating Phoebe I even tried to get information out of him. I knew that Helga and Phoebe were roommates and Gerald went over to their apartment often. But whenever I asked he just said she wasn't there.

I felt so confused, by my feelings, by Helga shutting me out. But running into her at the latin club gave me a second chance to make things right again. She looked so beautiful when I saw her dancing with Julían, even if she was extremely clumsy. I went over to dance with her and as soon as she took my hand and I felt the electricity throughout my body from her touch that that night was going to be my chance. Or so I thought it was.

Suddenly I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and came face to face with Helga.

Helga.

 **A/N.** Thanks so much for reading! I have been trying to update more often but since I am a biochem major like Arnold in this story I am extremely busy. I literally wrote this story while doing a toxicology at the same time so I apologize for all the grammar and/or spelling mistakes. Unlike toxicology no one is actually grading this. Anyway, if someone could tell me how to make the little line breaks in that some authors have in between parts of a chapter that would be great. I used underscores in this chapter but i'm not sure thats how you do it. I'm still new to this site and trying to figure things out, and i'm extremely terrible with technology. It took like 30 minutes just to figure out how to add another chapter.

Thanks!

American Airlines

(I do not own American Airlines, by the way. I just love to travel and they're my go to airline).


	5. Chapter 5

**Helga's POV**

But then the shower turned off. Helga looked over her shoulder at her bedroom door.

Helga turned and walked to her room. "That better be freaking _Batman_ in there or they're going to get a meeting with old betsy here!" Helga said.

"But Helga, what about Arnold?" Phoebe asked, walking behind Helga.

"I'll catch up to him. I need to find out who's making our water bill so high," Helga said, her hand on the bathroom doorknob.

"But we don't pay for utilities," Phoebe said, but Helga just waved her hand at Phoebe.

Helga slowly turned the door knob. She pushed the door open and behind it was...

Gerald.

"Gerald?! What are you doing in here?" Phoebe and Helga both yelled, glaring at the boy standing in front of them.

Gerald looked miserable. His eyes had dark circles under them, and though he was fully clothed he was completely soaked from head to toe. He looked at them at a loss for words.

Helga grabbed his arm and pulled him into the living room and sat him down on the couch. Phoebe went to her room and returned with a blanket that she wrapped around her boyfriends shoulders.

"Explain, hair boy," Helga said flatly, standing in front of him.

"Yes, I too desire an explanation as to why you were in my best friends shower," Phoebe said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Its not what you think babe!" Gerald finally said, "I wouldn't do that to you."

Helga rolled her eyes, "Then tell us what we should think," Helga said.

Gerald sighed. "Fine, but you're not going to like it," He said, looking at Helga.

 **Gerald's POV**

Gerald was walking down the sidewalk staring at my phone. "La Covacha, straight ahead," It said.

Gerald looked up and didn't see it. He groaned. _This is the third time I walked by this area and I still haven't found the club,_ Gerald thought. _I was supposed to meet Arnold here 2 hours ago_.

Suddenly He saw Arnold walk out of a small building and onto the sidewalk. He smiled with relief, and walked to approach him, when he saw Helga and some other guy walk out behind him. He quickly hid in an alleyway and watched.

He watched the stranger go off and take a phone call. Helga and Arnold stood their awkwardly looking in opposite directions. Helga took a step towards the street and stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk and Arnold quickly caught hold of her arms and steadied her. Helga blushed and looked up at him. Arnold looked at her with a half-lidded gaze and a smirk.

 _Oh no_ , Gerald thought, _I know that look_. Gerald quickly pulled out his phone and sent a text to Arnold apologizing for how late he was, hoping to distract Arnold. Arnold didn't even make a move to get his phone, only moving his hands down Helga's arms to lace his fingers with hers instead.

 _I can't let this happen again to him,_ Gerald thought. _What am I going to do? He's been hurting over her for over a year. But if I go up to him now he'll never listen to me._ Gerald sighed and sent Arnold another text saying that something came up and he couldn't make it.

Gerald watched as the group walked of down the sidewalk, Arnold and Helga walking in hand and hand. Gerald thought back to how he promised Phoebe he wouldn't interfere with Helga and Arnold's... _relationship_ or whatever it was. Gerald knew exactly why Helga was avoiding Arnold, but when he pushed her to be with Arnold, she would just ignore his advice. Gerald grew to respect Helga and even become friends with her, but Arnold was his best friend. And when your best friend feels terrible because of someone, its hard not to feel a small dislike for someone, no matter who it is.

Gerald contemplated calling Phoebe, but he knew she would just say to leave it alone. He wanted Helga and Arnold to be together, but he knew Helga would end up hurting Arnold again and again until she confronted her issues with him, and she definitely wasn't in the state of mind to do that tonight. So until that happened, Gerald decided he would try and stop them...as soon as he figured out where they went.

Hours passed and Gerald still didn't find them. He heard them say they were going to Gillette Stadium, but he had no clue where that was, and apparently neither did his phone because it was leading him in circles. Gerald sighed and wondered if he would ever get used to this city. The only reason he took the job offer was to be closer to Phoebe, and though he didn't regret that decision at all, it had taken him a while to adjust. He also hated the Patriots, so he had no reason to go to the stadium. He was more of a Steelers fan.

Gerald sighed and sat down on a nearby bench. _This is definitely not how I thought this night would turn out,_ he thought. _Maybe I should just give up. Maybe Helga will confront Arnold and everything will turn out ok._ He remembered the night he found out what happened.

Gerald knocked on the door to Phoebe and Helga's apartment. He had a bottle of wine in one hand and chocolate donuts in the other. Helga opened the door an smiled at him.

"Hey Gerald-o," Helga said, leading him inside. "How's Phoebe holding up?" Gearld said. "Not so great," Helga said, pointing at the small girl on the couch.

Phoebe just groaned and turned over. Gerald sat down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Come on babe, its not the end of the world," Gerald said.

"Yeah Phoebs, your still the smartest person I know," Helga chimed in. Phoebe sat up suddenly and glared at the two of them.

"You two don't understand. I got a C. I've never gotten a C. EVER," Phoebe said.

"Well, to be fair it was a C+," Helga said. Phoebe shot Helga a look. Helga sighed. "How about this, I'll tell you a story to help distract you from being so upset."

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Please Helga, i'm not a child," she said.

"I know that Phoebe, but I've never told anyone this, not even you," Helga said. This seemed to intrigue Phoebe, so Helga continued, "Hand me one of those donuts Gerald-O and listen up."

Gerald slid the box across the coffee table towards her and she took one out of the box. "It was my freshman year of college and I was at some lame party," She began.

Helga stood in a corner, holding a beer. She loved watching people when they were drunk, it was hilarious. She had a feeling someone was going to spike the punch with something, so she grabbed an beer from the fridge, making sure it was sealed first.

Her roommate, some girl from Russia named Irina, suddenly approached her, swaying back and forth with her long blonde hair half in her face. "I'm going to go throw up in the back yard, do you want to join?" She said, dry-heaving at the end of her sentence.

"We just got here Irina, how are you already drunk?" Helga asked, rolling her eyes.

"I swear its that punch. I have never thrown up from alcohol before," Irina said, straightening up a little. "I go now."

"Do you want me to hold your hair?" Helga asked, but Irina was already out the door. "I'll be fine!" She called behind her shoulder. Helga sighed. She and Irina weren't that close, seeing as it was only the 3rd week, but Helga felt a small bond or whatever to the girl. She was loud and pushy, like Helga, although when she yelled it was in Russian. She was beautiful and many guys tripped over themselves to get the chance to talk to her. But she always stood by Helga and told guys to "buzz off." Helga appreciated that Irina had a backbone and left her alone when she wanted to be.

Helga took one last sip of her beer, and then headed to the kitchen to grab another one. Helga wasn't a big partier, but Irina dragged her out and said it would be "fun." So far Helga was having a nice time, but she didn't think she would make a habit of coming to parties.

She felt someone tap on her shoulder. Helga turned around and was met with a pair of green eyes. Arnold. She melted a little bit inside.

He smiled down at her. "Hey Helga," He said. Helga noticed him swaying back and forth.

"Arnold are you drunk?" Helga asked. Arnold raised an eyebrow at her. "You called me Arnold," he said.

Helga rolled her eyes, and Arnold smiled at her. "No, i've only had one drink. I'm OK," He said.

Helga glanced at her watch. It read 2am. "Well its been nice chit-chatting with you, but I think i'm going to head back to my dorm," Helga said. Normally she would be overjoyed to be talking with him, but she was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed.

Helga started to walk towards the door, but Arnold grabbed her wrist. "Wait, Let me walk you home," He said.

Helga studied his face for a little bit, but then agreed. The walked towards the door together, and Helga stopped to check on Irina. "I will be okay, devushka. See you later!" Irina called, then pirouetted inside.

Helga watched her go back inside, and then returned to where Arnold was waiting by the street. He smiled at her. "Ready to go?" He asked.

They both walked down the street towards her dorm in silence. Though the thoughts in Helga's head were anything but.

 _I can't believe Arnold's walking me to my dorm!_ She thought. _Be still my beating heart, hush my distempered breath! Oh Arnold, you always seem to be so kind to me, even if I don't deserve it. Tonight I will be civil with you and show you how deeply I love you. This is my solemn vow!_

Arnold cleared his throat. "So what dorm do you live in?" Arnold asked.

"Melvin Hall," Helga said, staring at the ground as she walked.

"Oh, I live in Kerr Hall," Arnold said. Helga nodded and they continued to walk in silence. Arnold rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"So what brought you to that terrible party?"Helga joked. Arnold laughed.

"Well my roommate said I should go, but as soon as we got there he 's kind of a huge partier. I only see him about twice a week," Arnold said. "What about you? Why were you at the party? I didn't peg you as the 'party girl' type."

Helga rolled her eyes. "I'm not. This guy in my introduction to narrative class invited me. Said it was the "party of the year" or something. So Irina and I decided to go," Helga said.

"Irina is your roommate?" Arnold asked.

"Yeah. Tall, blonde, angry Russian chick," Helga said.

Arnold laughed. "Sounds familiar," He said, smirking at Helga.

"Oh ha-ha, very funny football-head. Yeah i'm angry and tall and blonde. Good observation," Helga said, rolling her eyes.

"Well I mean its true. Remember when I found that parrot that recited poetry?" Arnold asked.

Helga grimaced at the memory from her childhood. The parrot heard her reciting a poem about Arnold and then flew into his house. She spent her whole day and night in his house trying to catch the damn thing. "Yeah I remember. That thing was annoying," Helga said. _And he deserved what he got._

"Well I remember seeing you buying that monitor lizard in the pet shop, and then again when it ate my parrot. I felt pretty bad," Arnold said.

"Yeah well, I can't help that he chewed through his leash," Helga said, smirking. "That thing does what it wants, when it wants."

"I know its not you're fault. Though I liked that bird, some weird things kept happening while I was around. Like someone flicked my ear and pulled Lila's hair. And then when I got home there was a huge hole in the ceiling in the kitchen that my grandpa said appeared as soon as I left. Weird right?"

Helga chuckled nervously. "Yeah..so weird," Helga said. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Call it intuition, but something about the poem he recited sounded familiar. Kind of like the poems you wrote for that creative writing class in high school," Arnold said.

Helga tensed up. She did use some old material from elementary school in that class. She knew being lazy and reusing her poems for assignments would come back to bite her in the ass. _What should I do?_ Helga thought. _Just confess. Wait no-deny everything. Say you don't even write poetry. Say Phoebe wrote it for you, she's smart thats believable._ Instead, she just said, "Yeah, so?"

"Well I always thought your poems were beautiful, Helga. You certainly have a way with words that I've never seen in any other person. And I was just wondering if that poem my parrot was reciting was written by-"

"Were here," Helga said, desperately trying to change the direction of the conversation.

Arnold looked up at the building. "Yeah, I guess we are," He said.

Helga looked at Arnold. He looked genuinely upset their walk had come to an end. This made her stomach do flips. "Hey Arnold?" She asked.

"Yeah?" He asked looking away from the building and back down at her.

"Do you maybe want to come inside and see some of my poetry? You know, since you liked it so much?" Helga asked.

Arnold's face lit up and as a large smile spread across his face. "I'd like that."

Helga lead Arnold upstairs to her room. She of course wasn't going to show him any of the poems that were inspired by him. And she definitely wasn't going to show him any of the poems she had written about her family.

She unlocked her door and they entered her room. "It isn't much," she said, "But its a freshman dorm so I was expecting nothing less than a tiny shoe box."

"My room actually seems smaller, if thats even possible," Arnold said, sitting on Helga's bed.

"Looks like you go the short end of the stick, Shortman," Helga said, as she looked through her bookshelf for a poem that was presentable to show Arnold. She settled on a poem that was assigned her first week of college. It wasn't her best work, but at least it didn't have any embarrassing content that could reveal her deepest, darkest secret. She tore the poem out of her notebook.

Helga walked over to Arnold and handed him the paper that her poem was on. But instead of reading the poem Arnold continued to look at her.

"Uhhh Arnold I don't know if this is new to you or not, but you usually have to look at the words in order to read them," Helga said.

Arnold just smiled at her and put his hand over hers. "Thank you for letting me read one of your poems Helga. This really means a lot to me that you would share this with me."

Helga felt her face heat up. She suddenly felt very nervous about him reading the poem. What if he thought it was terrible? What if he laughed in her face? Helga knew she was a great poet, but something about Arnold reading her poems made her feel so exposed. "Yeah well uh...you read that and I'm going to go to the bathroom."

Helga got up and walked out of the room and down the hall to the communal bathroom. She went up to the sink and filled her hands with cold water and splashed it on her face. _Ok Helga old girl, its just a poem. Not even a good one. Calm down. Its no big deal. Its not like he'll read that one poem and he'll magically figure out I'm in love with him. That could never happen._

Helga smiled at herself in the mirror, her nervousness starting to melt away. She then notices that she got water all over her shirt when she frantically splashed water on her face. Helga groaned and grabbed a few paper towels to try and dry herself off.

 _Of course, he could figure out your undying lover for him by going through the many volumes of poetry you wrote about him sitting unattended on your bookshelf right now_ , Helga thought. She immediately threw her paper towel away and rushed back to her room.

Helga opened the door and what she saw made her feel like her stomach fell down to sit at her feet. She felt tears forming in her eyes, but she blinked them back. She didn't know if they were from heart break or just anger. She just knew she wasn't about to let them spill over onto her cheeks.

Helga stood in the doorway, her feet frozen in place, watching Arnold kiss Irina.

"And thats how the tv in the common room 'mysteriously' broke," Helga said.

"What happened to Arnold?" Phoebe asked.

"Well after I broke the tv I went back to my room to confront them, but Arnold was gone and Irina was passed out," Helga said. "When she woke up in the morning she had no recollection of the night before."

"Wait a minute, I've never heard this story. And I think if something like this happened my man Arnold would've told me," Gerald said.

"Well maybe he doesn't remember it. But I do," Helga said, scowling.

"That certainly made me forget my C+," Phoebe said sadly.

"This story cannot leave this room," Helga said.

"But Helga, if you just confront Arnold I'm sure-"

"This story **cannot** leave this room. That goes for you too, tall hair boy. I mean it," Helga said.

Gerald contemplated just telling Arnold anyway, but he appreciated that Helga trusted him, something she didn't do very often. He didn't want to ruin it. "Ok, I promise I won't tell," Gerald said.

Gerald sighed. No way Helga was going to say anything to Arnold.

Suddenly he heard Helga's voice. "So what do you wanna do now, football-head?"

Gerald jumped off the bench and walked in the direction of the voices. He rounded a corner and saw Arnold and Helga, walking down the sidewalk together.

 **A/N.** I did not proofread this and I am too tired to do so. Sorry for all the mistakes that might be in here. On the upside my constant tiredness seems to be paying off because it looks like I'm going to be on the chancellors list this semester, provided I do well on my finals. Maybe then I can finally get some sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Helga stretched on the floor of Arnold's room and looked up at the ceiling. His room was neat, but plain. There were a few posters on the wall, Evil Twin II and Dino Spumoni. There was a green comforter and one blue pillow on his bed. A wooden desk and small wooden chair sat in the corner with a stereo sitting on top of it that was currently playing soft jazz.

Helga sighed and rolled over to look at the clock. "Football-head, its 10 pm. I know our presentation is due tomorrow, but I really don't think there's any more we can do."

Arnold looked down at her from where he sat on his bed. "There's always more we can do. I want to get an A on this."

Helga growled and sat up. "This just in Arnold-o, this is an _easy-A_ class. We're guaranteed to get an A on this project."

"Just because this is an easy-A class doesn't mean we should do a half-ass job," Arnold said, looking back down at the project and scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

"Ugh, _come on_ football-head. Can't we at least take a break?"Helga said.

Arnold looked up at her and set his pencil down. "Ok Helga. What do you want to do?"

Helga smirked and stood up. "Now it's my turn to take control," She said.

Arnold stood up and glared at her. "I am not controling," Arnold said.

Helga waved her hand at him and walked out of his room into the kitchen. "Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that."

Arnold followed her into the kitchen, where she was sticking her nose in his fridge. "You know this is my apartment and that is my food," He said standing next to her.

"Do you have anything better to eat than lunch meat?" Helga said, ignoring his remark. "Seriously, is this what you eat for all of your meals?"

"I have to go grocery shopping," Arnold said.

"I'll say," Helga mumbled, closing the fridge.

"I'll tell you what, I'll make you dinner if you do me a favor," Arnold said.

"Sure, sure, whatever football-head. Just make me food," Helga said.

Arnold crossed his arms at her and Helga sighed.

"Make me food...please." Helga said.

Arnold smiled and got out a frying pan from his cabinet. Helga sighed and walked over to Arnold's couched and collapsed on and picked at her split ends.

Soon after Arnold handed her a plate with french toast on it. She sat up and took the plate from Arnold. "French toast?" Helga said.

"Yup. My grandmother used to make it for me all the time when I was a kid. Though her recipe had raspberries in it," He said chuckling, handing her raspberry syrup.

Helga poured syrup all over her french toast and ate a piece. "It's actually pretty good," Helga said.

"Even though my grandma was a little...well, eccentric, she was still a pretty good cook. Though I could do without that month she made us eat nothing but watermelon," Arnold said, sitting down on the coach next to her.

Helga nodded at his comment, remembering the eggs and bacon his grandmother made her when she accidentally slept walked into Arnold's house. They were phenomenal. Even if his grandmother kept calling her Eleanor and she ended up jumping out of the window.

They ate in a comfortable silence, and when they were finished Arnold gathered their plates and put them in the dish washer. He walked back to the couch and stood in front of Helga, who had her legs crossed on the couch looking at her nails.

Arnold cleared his throat. "About that favor..."

Helga rolled her eyes and sighed. "Crimeny, what is it? Are you going to make me be your slave for a week? Do all your homework? Or worse, finish the stupid Mythology project by myself?"

"No, nothing like that. Though we do need to finish that presentation," Arnold said. He caught her eye and sat down next to her. "What I really want...is to see you dance."

"I can't dance," Helga said flatly, avoiding his gaze.

"Come on Helga, I know about your training," Arnold said.

"Fine, I know how to clog or whatever a little," Helga said, rolling her eyes.

"Helga, I know that's a lie you tell people when they bring up your dancing. And I know you are classically trained in ballet. You carry pointe shoes in your backpack," Arnold said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Helga said, looking down at her shoes.

"Don't lie to me Helga. I've known since we were 9," Arnold said.

"You have?" Helga asked. She looked up at him, bewildered.

"Yeah, I found out around the time you started your own news paper..Sid took a few pictures of you to blackmail you," Arnold said, rubbing the back of his neck.

He WHAT!" Helga said, crossing her arms.

I-It wasn't a big deal! I told Gerald not to use them, I swear!" Arnold said, putting his hands up defensively.

"I am going to kill them!" Helga said angrily.

Helga, it's ok. No one else knows," Arnold said.

"Helga sighed. "Fine, I'll let that slide. For now. Is there any other favor I can do instead? Anything?" Helga said.

Arnold smirked. "Nope."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Fine, but if I'm going to do this I'm going to do it properly," Helga said walking into Arnold's room. She came out with her back pack and her pointe shoes in her hands. "Lets go."

Helga saw Arnold walking down the sidewalk and hurried to catch up with him. She didn't know exactly what she was going to say to him, but she thought she would just figure it out when she got to him.

Helga finally approached him. She took a deep breath and finally tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to face her and she felt nervousness start to creep up on her. The look in his green eyes sent shivers down her spine. They looked like a cross between sadness, anger and hope? She felt like she could look into them forever.

Helga?" Arnold said. His voice snapped her out of the trance she was in. She took a small breath and let it out.

"Hey football-head, I came to apologize," Helga said.

Arnold blinked. "Apologize?" He asked.

Yes, apologize. And listen closely because I don't do this often. I'm sorry I don't remember anything from last night, I was pretty drunk I guess," Helga said, looking down at the ground.

"That's ok, you don't seem to remember a lot," Arnold mumbled.

Helga's eyes narrowed at him. "Whats that supposed to mean?" She said.

Arnold sighed, "Helga, we used to be..." Arnold paused for a bit to find the right word. "Friends. And then one day you just completely stop talking to me. Why did you do that?"

"Well maybe if you weren't such a stupid football-head I would still talk to you," Helga said.

Arnold was becoming visibly frustrated. Helga instantly regretted what she had said, but she couldn't help it. It was just a defense mechanism. "Stop, Helga. I know what you're doing. Every time someone gets a little close to you, you insult them," Arnold said.

Helga was shocked. Did he really notice that? She quickly hid her shocked expression with a scowl. "You don't know what you're talking about," She said.

"Helga you've always shut me out and I'm tired of it. Ever since I can remember I've always tried to be nice to you and help you-"

"I never asked you to do that," Helga said defensively.

"No, I know you didn't. I did it because I wanted to. And I still want to. But I thought we were finally getting close in college and then you just randomly stop everything. I deserve some answers, Helga," Arnold said firmly.

"Thats none of your business," Helga growled.

Arnold ran his hands through his hair. "But it is my business Helga.

Ever since you kissed me on top of that rooftop when we were nine you have been my business. I never stopped thinking about that day or you."

Helga felt her heart beating wildly against her chest. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

Arnold grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. She looked up at his eyes and was shocked at the intensity of his gaze. "You do know what I'm talking about, Helga. You told me you loved me. And then you took it back. That day has been driving me crazy. And I'm done wondering whether or not you actually meant what you said." Arnold's gaze softened a bit, but he kept his tight grip on her. Her skin felt like fire where his fingers were touching her skin. "Do you still love me?" He asked.

Helga felt her body shaking. She felt like her knees would buckle underneath her. Of course she still loved him. She never stopped loving him. His kind heart, his cornflower hair, his green eyes. She swooned just seeing him. But she couldn't bring herself to tell him her secret.

So instead she just muttered the word that she desperately didn't want to say to the boy in front of her, "No."

She saw Arnold wince at her answer. He kept his hands on her shoulders for a little longer, but finally sighed and let go of her shoulders. "Good-bye, Helga," He said. He turned and continued to walk down the sidewalk.

Helga watched him go. She felt her heart breaking into a million pieces.

Arnold watched Helga lace her pointe shoes on stage as he sat in a chair in the auditorium. He still didn't know how she managed to get them in here so late at night, but she just said she "had her ways." She changed into a black unitard and told him to sit and watch because she would "only do this once," and "If he ever told anyone he was toast."

Helga stood up and put her hair up into a tight bun. She then set a boom box at the end of the stage. "Ok Arnold-o. I've been working on this solo for a little while now. I heard this song a while back and liked it so I choreographed my own dance to it."

What song is it?" Arnold asked. He was curious, but he was distracted by how beautiful she looked. The auditorium was pitch black except for a few dim lights on stage where Helga stood. Her blonde hair sparkled underneath the light. He watched her flex her calf muscles and took note of how great her legs looked. He never noticed that. He blushed at his thoughts.

Its called Lux Auruque. I walked in here one day and heard one of the music classes playing it. I thought it was beautiful," she said shyly. Arnold grinned up at her.

Helga quickly cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah. Here it goes," she said. She pressed a button on the boom box and stood in the center of the stage.

Arnold heard a slow, melodic sound coming from wind instruments in the song. One carried a high note above the rest. It was soft. Helga was right, it was beautiful.

He watched her dance across the stage. Her movements were slow and controlled. He was surprised someone as tough as she was could look so soft and vulnerable. Like she was dancing on a cloud. He watched her do a triple pirouette (the only ballet term he actually knew) and rest her foot down gracefully.

He heard the music start to crescendo and her movements shifted from slow to powerful. She lifted her leg up high towards her head. She kept her movements powerful and controlled and he watched her determination in her face. He heard symbols as she leapt high up in the air, keeping her legs straight. He watched her in amazement.

And just as soon as it started, it was over. Helga had her hands on her hips and was breathing deeply as she walked towards the boom box to shut it off. Little pieces of her hair fell out of her bun and hung down on her face.

"Well there you go, Arnold-o, you got to see me dance," Helga said. She started to walk off-stage to change. Arnold jumped out of the trance he was in and ran onstage after Helga. "Helga, wait!" He said.

Helga turned and looked at him. He felt at a loss for words underneath her gaze. He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling sheepish. "I, uh...that was beautiful. I knew you could dance but I didn't know how well. Thank you for showing me."

Helga gave him a small smile and hummed a thanks. She turned and walked away from him, grabbing her clothes out of her bag to go change.

Arnold felt a smile come to his face. He knew one thing for sure. He would never look at Helga G. Pataki the same again.

A/N: /strongThe song Helga danced to is the band version of Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre. That and the choral version are both beautiful, I suggest listening to them if you get the chance. Sorry it took a bit to update!

Edit: Sorry about how this chapter was posted previously. I really don't know how it got that way, but hopefully it is fixed now.


	7. Chapter 7

Arnold sat in his apartment scowling at the at his cereal in front of him. He absent-mindedly swirled the little o-shaped pieces in the milk. "I don't know, Gerald."

Gerald sighed and sat down at the table in front of Arnold. "I think you should talk to her."

Arnold looked up from his uneaten cereal, which was now turning into mush. "Why should I? Helga and I have always been enemies. Being friends seemed to be too difficult for her. It would be easier to go back to hating each other."

Gerald rolled his eyes. "Come on Arnold, you know you've never hated Helga. Even when she tortured you when were kids you always said she was good deep down."

"Fine, I don't hate her. But I don't want anything to do with her anymore. I done with her stupid mood swings and the stupid way she controls things and her stupid pink bow," Arnold said, pushing his cereal away from him.

"If you wanted her out of you're life she would've been gone a long time ago. But you don't, and she's still here."

"She's not out of my life because I'm too nice. I let her walk all over me and tease me. I don't know why I let that happen. If I would've stopped bothering with her a long time ago my life would've been much happier."

"You let her do those things because you have feelings for her."

Arnold stared at Gerald, shocked. "No I-"

"And don't try to hide it from me. We're best friends, Arnold. I've known for a long time."

"You have?"

"Of course I have! You've never been great at hiding when you have feelings for someone. Remember when you had a crush on Mrs. Felter and you wrote her name all over your homework and put your clothes on backwards?"

Arnold blushed slightly at the memory, but then chucked. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Listen, you'll probably be pissed at me once I tell you this, Lord knows Helga was, but I'm going to tell you anyway, because it might help you out of this predicament. Remember the night I was supposed to meet you at that latin club but texted you and told you I couldn't make it?"

Arnold nodded, "Yeah, I do."

"Well I actually saw you when you were coming out of the club with Helga. I saw you both holding hands and I kind of sabotaged a few of the moments you were together."

Arnold glared at Gerald, "You what?"

"I just wanted you and Helga to confront your unresolved conflicts and Helga was not going to in the state she was in. So I...delayed that a little bit. Though it turns out you can't do that when you're sober either."

"That wasn't your place to do that," Arnold said, standing up and pouring his cereal down the sink.

"I know, I know. I shouldn't have done that. But I just wanted things to work out properly. I'm sorry."

Arnold sighed and sat back down at the table. "Thats ok, I forgive you."

"If it makes you feel any better, I ended up drinking too much and fell asleep in Helga's shower. She found me and then when I told her this she punched me in the stomach."

Arnold rolled his eyes, "typical Helga."

"Arnold you can't stay mad at her forever. I saw the way you both looked at each other that night. Its the same way Phoebe and I look at each other. You really need to talk to her."

"I don't want to talk to her. I'm tired of feeling this way. Besides, she doesn't care about anyone besides herself."

"You know thats not true," Gerald said.

Arnold glared at Gerald. "Either way, I'm done with her. And why are you defending her, anyway? You aren't exactly her biggest fan."

"I know I haven't liked Pataki in the past, but I have grown to respect her. And I just want you to be happy, man," Gerald said.

"I am happy. And I'm sure Helga is happy I'm out of her life too," Arnold said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

Gerald sighed," Listen, man. Helga would kill me if she knew I told you this because it would ruin her "tough girl" appearance, but I've caught her crying a couple of times."

Arnold's expression softened. "Crying?"

"Yeah, crying. I was just as surprised as you. I didn't even think Pataki could cry. I caught her actually earlier tonight when I went to Phoebe's for dinner. I started talking about you and she excused herself. I followed her to the living room and I saw her sitting on the couch whipping her eyes and sniffling. Of course she denied the fact that she was crying but I noticed she had to take a few deep breaths before coming back," Gerald said.

The color drained out of Arnold's face. "I didn't think she cared if we were friends or not. I feel terrible, Gerald."

"After dinner she disappeared and has been gone for hours. Even Phoebe can't get in touch with her. She's pretty worried."

Arnold bit the inside of his cheek. "I think I know where she is."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry updates have been slow, but I made the deans list! Now that its summer I'll try to update more often.


	8. Chapter 8

Helga sat on her bed with her laptop. It had been a almost two weeks since her fight with Arnold, and she still felt terrible about it. Every time she thought of it she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach and a lump form in her throat.

Helga Pataki didn't cry. She was stronger than that. She didn't let things get to her, especially not a boy. So after a few days of feeling bad about it Helga decided she wasn't going to feel this way anymore. She decided to distract herself with anything she could.

It had been working so far give or take a few times. Helga pulled her blanket a little closer around her. She didn't really get on social media often, but it was pretty entertaining and mindless. She stopped at on a video of a recipe of crêpes. She felt her stomach growl and glanced at her alarm clock. It read 8:30 am.

She kept scrolling and saw a picture of Arnold. The photo wasn't a big deal. It was just a photo of him in the aquarium back home gazing up at fish as they swam above him. The light from the water illuminating the features in his face. He looked so...happy.

And yet Helga felt so miserable without him. She felt so stupid for not just admitting her feelings for him. Instead she just lied. To his face. This wasn't anything new to her. She'd been lying to him her whole life. Why did she feel so bad about it now?

Because he finally gave up on her. What he said was right. He had always been there for her. No matter how mean she had been to him or how much she ignored him he always came back to help her. And she subconsciously always knew he would always be there for her. But this time it was different.

Helga felt the lump form in her throat again and tears started to prick in her eyes. She tried to take a deep breath but it came out shaky. She clenched her teeth together. _Don't cry_ , she thought. But she thought her tears threaten to spill over. But then she heard her phone ring on her nightstand.

Helga reached across her bed and picked up her phone. "Hello?" She said.

"Helga? I hope you're not sitting in your bed moping," Julían said.

"Helga Pataki doesn't mope," Helga said, scowling, pushing her laptop away from her.

"Yeah, sure, ok. You're not moping. Let's go get breakfast," Julían said.

"I'm not hungry," Helga said just as her stomach growled loudly.

Julían laughed, "You know, you're not a very good liar."

 _I'm a better liar than you think_ , Helga thought solemnly. "Fine, we can get breakfast. But lets get crêpes," Helga said, standing up from her bed and walking to her bathroom.

Helga looked down at her crêpe and stabbed it with her fork. It was delicious, but her mind was elsewhere.

"Calmate Helga, what did the crêpe do to you?" Julían said, putting a piece of strawberry in his mouth. Helga just sighed and rolled her eyes in response.

"Helga, you should talk to Arnold already," Julían said.

"And why would I do that?" Helga said, picking her head up to scowl at him.

"Because you're obviously miserable," Julían said.

"How do you know I'm miserable? No one has seen me cry and I've been very busy these past few weeks," Helga said.

"Yeah, you've been busying yourself with not crying and being miserable," Julían said, smirking.

Helga glared at him. "You know nothing about me!" Helga said defensively, shoving the rest of her crepe into her mouth.

Julían chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Look, I may not know you or Arnold very well. But its very obvious that you two care about each other. So now you can either do something about it or you can continue to mope and waste your life away. You shouldn't have to walk around day after day, hopelessly in love. I know you're a lot of things, Helga, but I never pegged you as a coward."

Helga sighed. "I've heard that piece of advice before. Fine, I'll talk to him."

Helga pulled the tray of garlic bread out of the oven. "Are you _sure_ Arnold isn't coming, Pheebs?"

"Positive. It's just you, Gerald and I," Phoebe said, placing chicken parmesan on three plates. Helga sighed and walked out of the kitchen.

Helga picked at her food as she half-heartedly listened to one of Phoebe's residency horror stories. Helga normally loved her stories, they were always the perfect amount of horrifying and hilarious. But she was trying to think of a way to subtly get information about Arnold so she could talk to him.

"And then he puked all over the doctor and the nurse slipped in the vomit and knocked all the kids vaccines onto the floor," Phoebe laughed, whipping a tear from her eye.

Gerald laughed, "Babe, you have to get into the crazies situations."

"I don't know why this stuff keeps happening to me! I guess its better than going in and being bored all day," Phoebe said, smiling.

"That's true. You know something crazy like that happened to Arnold today in one of his pharmacology classes the other day," Gerald said.

This peaked Helga's interest. "What happened?" She asked, breathing an inward sigh of releif that she didn't have to bring up Arnold on her own.

"He was in lab working on the 'toxicity of...something' and one of the mice got lose and crawled up his lab partners shirt. She freaked out and starting flailing her arms around ended up tripping and hitting her head on the lab table, knocking herself out. Arnold had to carry her all the way across campus to the student health center," Gerald laughed.

"Wow, if she's afraid of mice she is going into the wrong profession," Phoebe snickered.

"That's very true. Anyway, he stayed with her until she woke up, she ended up being fine, but the professor never found the mouse," Gerald laughed. "I tell you, Arnold will do anything to help people."

"Yeah, he will," Helga said, looking down at her plate. "Excuse me."

Helga felt the lump rising in her throat again as she walked into the living room. She felt pressure in the front of her head as tears started to form in her eyes. _No, don't you dare cry,_ Helga thought. She sat on the couch and took a few deep breaths.

Helga jumped when she heard a voice. "Helga, are you ok?" Gerald asked. Helga quickly turned away and whiped her eyes. "Are you crying?" He asked.

"Crying? Of course not, I just needed a minute to myself, criminy! Is that too much to ask?" She said, standing up and walking back into the kitchen. "Whatever you say," Gerald said, shaking his head.

As Helga approached the table, she tried taking a few more deep breaths to calm herself down, but it didn't seem to be working. Phoebe looked up at her with a worried expression. "Helga?" She said, frowning.

Helga shook her head. "I, uh, need to go." She quickly turned on her heel and ran to her room, grabbing her back back and running out of the front door.

Helga pushed the door open and walked inside. It was dark, but she quickly found a light switch and flipped it on. She walked down the aisle and sat on the edge of the stage, lacing up her shoes. She stood up and took a deep breath.

Helga raised up on pointe and began to dance. She watched the auditorium spin around her and felt her troubles melt away. She leapt into the air and felt goosebumps raise up her arm as she felt free as a bird.

But when she landed her worries seemed to come back to her, because she heard someone calling her name.

"Helga?" Arnold said, looking up at her.

 **A/N** : Thanks for the reviews! Sorry this took so long! Please notify me if you catch any errors.

I do not own Hey Arnold.


	9. Chapter 9

"Helga?" Arnold said. He looked up at her and waited for her reaction. He waited her to storm off. Yell at him. Punch him in the face. Anything. He flinched when she turned around, expecting for one or all of the above to happen.

But instead when Helga turned around she looked at him with shock and sadness clear on her face. She bit her lower lip and looked away from him, taking a deep breath. Arnold wished she would just punch him in the face. That would be better than seeing her like this.

"Helga are you ok?" Arnold said, taking a step towards the stage. He saw her tense up and take a step back. She clenched her fists and start to shake a bit, looking straight into his eyes. Arnold felt the emotion in the room change instantly. He knew he was in for it.

"Of course I'm not ok! You desert me just because I didn't say-" Helga gulped and averted her gaze, "I didn't say I loved you! Whats you're problem? I thought you were supposed to help people? Mr. Brightside or whatever! But you just drop everything just like that? What is wrong with you?"

Arnold felt hurt and anger start to boil inside him. "You're such a hypocrite! You deserted me for months! Months without a word! That killed me Helga. I felt awful for a long time. At least I had a reason to leave!"

"Oh what a good reason. Because I don't spend all of my time thinking of you and falling for you?" Helga rolled her eyes. "And I had a reason."

Falling for me? Arnold thought. He felt his heart start beating faster. He shook his head and glared at Helga. "Oh and what was this "great" reason?"

Helga crossed her arms and turned away from him. "Nothing." Arnold sighed angrily and climbed onto the stage to stand in front of her. "Helga, I did not come all the way out here for you to blow me off again. Or is this "reason" not even real? Just some made up thing for you to push me further away again?

Helga seemed to snap at his accusation. Arnold could see the pure anger in her eyes. "Who the hell do you think you are saying that to me?" She yelled, so loud that cowered a little, though still held his ground.

"Helga all we do is fight! Every time I try and talk to you you build up some wall and don't give me a straight answer! I'm tired of it! If you have some reason for hating me then just tell me, damnit! I don't want to-"

"You kissed my roommate!" Helga yelled.

Arnold stared at Helga, puzzled. "I what?"

Helga sighed and rolled her eyes. "You kissed my roommate, Irina. You walked me home from a party freshman year, I went to the bathroom, and when I came back you were swapping spit with her."

Arnold bit the inside of his cheek. "I don't remember that…"

Helga growled. "Yeah, well try to remember a little harder," She said, turning on her heel and grabbing her bag. A small book labeled "poetry" fell out of her bag, and Arnold went to pick it up for her,but she was already gone behind the curtains.

Arnold studied the book. It was just a plain, pink, spiral notebook. But it seemed so familiar somehow…Arnold's eyes widened in panic.

~Flashback~

Arnold watched as Helga looked through her bookshelf for a poem to let him read. He was elated that she actually was going to let him read a poem of hers. He loved her poetry. It was like her poems told of parts of Helga that she didn't want to reveal. Reading them made him feel somehow closer to her.

He watched Helga tear out a piece of paper from a pink spiral notebook labeled "Poems" and hand it to him. But Arnold couldn't stop looking at her. She looked nervous and had a faint tint of pink on her cheeks. Her blue eyes were dewy and Arnold felt that he couldn't look away from them even if he tried. Though he wasn't trying.

"Uhh Arnold I don't know if this is new to you or not, but you usually have to look at the words in order to read them," Helga said.

Arnold smiled at her, remembering the poem in his hand. He placed his hand over hers as an act of reassurance. "Thank you for letting me read one of your poems, Helga. This really means a lot to me that you would share this with me."

He watched the pink on Helga's cheeks turn a slightly darker shade and she got up. "Yeah well uh..you read that and I'm going to go the the bathroom."

Arnold watched Helga walk out of the room and then returned his attention to the poem. His smile grew as he read the short poem, and he felt his heart start to beat a bit faster. He went to read it again, but the words started to blur on the page.

Arnold rubbed his eyes with his hands, but the words remained blurry and his his head seemed a bit hazy too. All he could focus on was the warm feeling in his chest.

Arnold saw a flash of blonde hair from the corner of his eye. He smiled at the girl standing before him. He didn't know what it was, but something always pulled him to Helga. He felt this pull even when they were kids. Arnold stood up and moved towards Helga. He felt the room spin underneath his feet as he stumbled a little but quickly regained his balance. Her back was to him, but he placed his hand on her shoulder so she would turn to face him. He looked into her blue eyes, but they somehow didn't have the same effect on him that they had before. They seemed…different. Still beautiful, but not as intoxicating as before. He felt her breath tickle his face as he let the warm feeling in his chest envelope his whole body. He smiled lazily and leaned close enough to her so his lips touched hers.

~End of flashback~

Arnold dropped the notebook in shock. He remembered everything, even waking up in his bed the next morning with no recollection of how he got there. How could I be such a jerk to Helga! He thought. Just when she opened herself up to me and let me read one of her poems!

Arnold shook his head in annoyance at himself. No wonder she didn't want to be around me. He looked towards the curtain where Helga walked off and ran towards it. I've got to explain myself, he thought.

 **A/N:** Sorry again this took so long! I started weight training and I've been coming home from the gym and immediately falling asleep. Today was my first rest day, though I can barely lift my arms they are so sore. Anyway, Thanks for reading! And as always please let me know if you see any errors!

I do not own Hey Arnold!


	10. Chapter 10

Helga grabbed her bag and stomped towards the changing room. She opened the door and slammed it behind her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose. She held it for a few seconds, basking in the silence around her. She exhaled and slowly lowered to the floor. She glared at the floor for a few moments, replaying the last few moments in her head. She slapped the floor with both of her hands angrily. "Damnit!" She yelled.

She had kept that moment hidden for so long. It was hard enough to tell Gerald and Phoebe, let alone confront Arnold about it. She thought it would feel good when she finally confronted Arnold. She thought the pressure would go away and that she would finally be able to clear the air. And yet she felt terrible. And she didn't know what to do. What she did know was that she didn't want to face Arnold. So she stood up and took her time changing back into her clothes.

When she was finished, she let her hand hover over the door knob. It sounded quiet on the other side of the door, so Arnold could have left. Or he could be waiting for her to come out. She hoped it wasn't the latter. She finally placed her hand on the doorknob and twisted it opened. She inhaled sharply, expecting to see Arnold on the other side of the door.

But he wasn't. She exhaled happily and began to walk out of the auditorium. She opened the door and let the cool night air hit her face. She turned and walked down the street light illuminated side walk. She felt her feet moving faster and faster until she was sprinting. She stopped at a busy intersection and hailed a cab. She blurted out the first address she could think of and then rested back into the seat.

Helga watched as buildings went by, the street lights becoming a blur. After a while, the cab stopped. Helga paid the driver and stepped out. The sign in front of her read "Tina Park." She sighed and kept walking, until she came to a small bridge. She walked to the middle of the bridge and leaned on the railing, staring at the water. This was the bridge where she told Arnold that she missed her mother while she was working. She chuckled as she remembered that she had been so caught up in her rant that she had covered him with the ice cream she was holding.

"You know, you have a bad habit of disappearing." Helga jumped slightly at the voice but then turned and glared at the person it came from. "The point of disappearing is to not be found, football-head."

Arnold walked and stood next to her and looked down at the water. She turned away from him and mimicked his actions. "What are you doing here?" She asked, anger still clear in her voice. Arnold looked at her, but Helga kept her gaze on the water. "I came to talk to you," he said.

Helga scoffed. "Yeah, well, you could have saved yourself a trip. I have nothing to say to you." She watched as Arnold fidgeted with his hands. "Why did you become friends with me senior year of undergrad after what I did to you?" He asked.

Helga's eyes widened slightly. "You remember what happened?" She asked. Arnold nodded. "It took me a little while, but yes, I remember. So why did you do that?" He asked again.

Helga sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Uh..I don't know. I guess you were so open and friendly to me I decided I would forgive you. But the night you took me up to that tree and held my hand everything kind of came crashing back down. I think it was because it reminded me of when you grabbed my hand when I was showing you my poetry. I realized I was still angry at you so I distanced myself from you," Helga said, brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear nervously.

Arnold turned Helga so she was facing him. "Helga, I am so sorry. I never should have done that to you. You are a remarkable person and you shouldn't have been treated that way. It was a pretty shitty thing to do, and I'm sorry," He said.

Helga's eyes widened a bit at Arnold cursing. "Thanks for apologizing," she said, removing his hands from her arms. Arnold stared at her uneasily, like he could somehow see she wasn't convinced.

"If it's any consolation, I think the punch I drank last night was drugged," he said. Helga snorted, "Yeah, that must have been why Irina was acting so crazy," she said, rolling her eyes. Arnold blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"What is it?" she asked. "I..uh.." he said. He took a deep breath and then blurted," when you left the room to go to the bathroom I read your poem, which was beautiful, but when I went to read it again everything became blurry. I felt really weird. But I had this warm feeling in my chest so when I saw someone enter the room I went to kiss them so I could keep that feeling. I guess the person was Irina, but I...uh...thought it was you," he said, coughing awkwardly.

"You what?!" Helga shrieked. Arnold stepped backwards from the volume of her voice. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to kiss her and I probably shouldn't have wanted to kiss you either, but you were being so open with me and you never are and I felt so happy. And then the punch kicked in and it made my feelings intensify and I just couldn't help it!" Arnold said.

"So let me get this straight. You kissed my roommate, who you thought was me, because you were happy I let you read one of my poems?" Helga asked, placing her hands on her hips. "Um..yeah that sounds about right," Arnold said quietly.

Helga rolled her eyes and turned around in anger, but really it was to hide the smile that was forming on her face. Arnold had wanted to kiss me! She thought happily. She felt butterflies fluttering around her stomach. She was brought out of her gleeful thoughts by Arnold's voice.

"Helga please don't be mad at me again! I am so, so sorry! I know what I did was awful, and what I told you was awful, but what I want more than anything is for you to forgive me," Arnold said. Helga chewed on the inside of her cheek and turned around to face Arnold again. She smirked at him. "Oh fine foot-ball head, if it will make you happy, I forgive you," Helga said.

Arnold's face lit up. "Really?" He asked. Helga chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Yes, really." Arnold wrapped his hands around her in a hug. Helga felt herself melt into the warmth of the hug, enjoying the feeling of his arms around her, before pushing him off. "Alright, thats enough of the mushy stuff," she said.

Arnold smiled down at her. "Thanks Helga," he said. Helga looked up at him. "Yeah, don't mention it football-head," She said.

"So..." Arnold said, "friends?"

Helga felt her heart sink into her stomach.

"Uh...yeah. Friends."

 **A/N:** Sorry for dragging this out, but things will get better between them, I promise! I have some fun things planned. Anyway, thanks for reading! And thanks to everyone leaving reviews, I really appreciate them and enjoy reading them. As always please notify me if you notice any mistakes.


	11. Chapter 11

Arnold, Gerald and Julían stood in the middle of Gerald Field passing a soccer ball to each other. Julían watched as the ball rolled across the grass from Arnold and stopped it quickly with his foot. "So this is where y'all played when you were kids, huh?" Julían said.

Arnold laughed,"It's no Gillette Stadium, but it was great when we were kids. We used to play everything here when the older kids ran us out of Tina Park. Baseball, Football, everything." He passed the ball to Gerald.

"Remember when we played that football game against the fifth graders? And you kept talking us up to them when we were all terrified they were going to kill us?" Gerald laughed,

Arnold stopped it with his foot. "Yeah, I kind of got carried away," He laughed. "At least we won in the end."

Gerald rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks to your plays. If we had done it the way Helga had wanted us to we would have gotten killed. I couldn't look at another protein drink for weeks without getting nauseous." Gerald kicked the ball to Arnold.

Arnold stopped the ball and looked down at it. "Yeah...Helga." He scratched the back of his neck and kicked the ball towards Julían, where it stopped in the space between them. Julian gave Arnold a funny look then went and retrieved the ball and walked back to where he was standing before. "Sorry," Arnold mumbled.

"Still upset about Helga, huh?" Julían asked, kicking up the ball and juggling it. Arnold sighed and watched Julían. "We said we would be friends, but every time I try to talk to her its awkward or she avoids me. Honestly I miss the days were she used to bully me. At least she would talk to me openly."

Julían dropped the ball and passed it to Gerald. "Well your first mistake was to tell her you wanted to be "friends" when you clearly want to be more than that," Julían said. Gerald stopped the ball and laughed. "Yeah, whats up with that man?" Gerald asked.

"I don't know, I panicked. She told me she didn't love me anymore. I should probably just stop feeling this way. There's no point," Arnold said.

"Aren't you supposed to be Mr. Optimism?" Gerald asked, causing Arnold to roll his eyes. "Wait, wait, wait. Helga was in love with you?" Julían said.

"Uhhh...it's a long story, but when we were kids she kind of told me she had...strong feelings for me," Arnold said. "And you knew this and didn't do anything about it?" Julían said.

Arnold bit the inside of his cheek. "Well she kind of took it back. I offered her an out saying it was just a "heat of the moment" thing," he mumbled. Julían laughed. "Oh Arnold you are one of a kind, my friend."

"I think you guys need a change of scenery. You're surrounded by places where bad things have happened to you both," Gerald said. "Oh look whose Mr. Romantic over here," Julían laughed.

Gerald scoffed. "Hey, when Phoebe and I went to colleges far away from each other, it was hard. Really hard. We both agreed it would be useless to date while we were across the country from each other, despite our feelings. But secretly I agreed to myself that I would wait for her, because I knew she was the one. One day I thought it was too hard. That maybe I should just give up everything. But we met up with each other one summer when we were both home, just as friends. Just seeing her laugh and hear her talk about how much she loved what she was doing reassured me she was worth the wait. Getting away from all my problems at college and just being with her helped me realize that she was what I wanted. So I moved to Boston to be with her."

"Wow, I never knew that Gerald. You two are great together," Arnold said.

"I think I might have a way to help y'all," Julían said. "I was going to take my family to England to meet my boyfriend and see him play in England. But my grandfather became ill and they went back to Costa Rica to take care of him-"

"Wait, I thought your family was from Cuba?" Gerald said.

"They are, my grandparents moved to Costa Rica around the time I was born because of all the uprisings the past few decades," Julían said."Don't interrupt." Gerald put his hands up in surrender. "Like I was saying, my family went to Costa Rica to take care of my grandfather. It turned out he was fine, but they are staying with him an extra week or two to make sure. But that means they can't come to England with me."

Arnold's eyes widened. "Julían, we couldn't-"

"Oh yes you could. The hotel and the plane tickets would go to waste anyway," Julían said.

"How many people did you originally plan on taking?" Gerald asked.

"Well besides myself, my mom, father and two little sisters. So four. Which is enough for you, Phoebe, Helga and lover-boy over here," Julían said, gesturing towards Arnold. "What better way to woo you're significant other than to take them to a foreign country?"

~later~

"What do you think babe?" Gerald asked, rolling a roll of sushi. He moved away the matt and the contents of the roll fell out onto the counter.

"You know, you're really bad at making sushi," Phoebe said, coming up behind him and wrapping her small arms around him. Gerald glanced over at Phoebes perfect roll. "I just can't get the hang of this," Gerald said.

Phoebe giggled and placed her hands on his. "Here, let me help you." They rolled the matt until it came into a perfect roll. "See? Not that hard?"

"Maybe for you," Gerald laughed. "You're perfect at everything."

Phoebe blushed. "I'm not perfect," she said. Gerald turned around to face her. "You are to me," Gerald said kissing her forehead. Phoebe blushed and moved away to frantically clean up their mess. Gerald laughed at her nervous actions and cleared his throat. "So Julían asked me something pretty weird today."

"What was that?" Phoebe asked, not looking up from the dish she was scrubbing. "He, um, invited us all to England," Gerald said. Phoebe dropped the dish into the sink. "What?" she asked quietly. "You heard me," Gerald said.

Phoebe slowly picked up the dish and began washing it again. "So when would this whole thing...happen?" She asked. "In two weeks." Gerald said quietly.

"Two weeks?!" Phoebe squeaked. "Gerald I can't just pick up my life and go to England in two weeks! I have a residency, Arnold has school and Helga has a job. So do you I might add."

"You have vacation time, babe! And so do Helga and I. Arnold has a break the week we would go. It would be perfect!" Gerald said.

"No. No! I shouldn't leave right now. I need to focus. Why do you even want to go?" Phoebe asked.

"Because I see the way Arnold and Helga look at each other," Gerald said. Phoebe looked at him in shock. "What does that have to do with anything?" Phoebe asked.

"I see that they have feelings for each other," Gerald continued, "but they keep avoiding them. They keep pushing them away out of fear. But you can only keep pushing feelings away before they start to fade. And I don't want that for them. I don't want that for us either."

Phoebe walked over to Gerald and put her hand on his cheek. "That won't happen for them or for us, Gerald. I love you."

"I love you to babe. So much. But sometimes, with the pressure of your residency and my job I feel like we are just falling into a routine. I don't want you to get bored one day and leave. I want to feel like this with you for a long time," Gerald said.

Phoebe moved her hand down to hold his and giggled. "Gerald, there is no way I would ever get bored with you." She sighed. "Ok, I will go to England. On one condition."

"Whats that?" Gerald asked.

"No more surprises," Phoebe said. She let go of his hand and grabbed their plates of sushi and walked out of the kitchen.

Gerald watched her leave. When he was sure she was really gone, he pulled a small velvet box from his pocket and carefully examined it.

"Maybe just one," Gerald said.

 **A/N:** I decided to make this chapter more about Phoebe and Gerald. I think they are sometimes an under-appreciated couple in the series with Helga's awesome love for Arnold. Plus I'm all for multiracial couples. Anyway, I'll get back to Helga and Arnold in the next chapter. Please notify me of any grammar/spelling mistakes. Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

Arnold smiled at the sight before him. Beautiful pink and orange clouds of the early morning surrounded him. He felt warm air brush past him as fe floated amount the clouds.

"Arnold..." Arnold jumped at the sound of his name being called. He looked around and saw only a few beams of sunlight peeking out from behind the clouds. "Arnold," the voice came again. It was gentle and melodic. The voice echoed softly and he closed his eyes at let the voice ring in his ears.

The voice disappeared and Arnold opened his eyes. He saw the buildings on the ground getting closer. He was falling fast through the sky. He saw the cars rushing down the highway, honking angrily at each other. The small shops and homes with people moving in and out of them. Arnold began to panic and grab at anything to stop him from falling, though nothing was around. "Arnold," the voice came again, and then he hit the ground.

"Arnold! Wake up football-head, the plane is landing!" Helga said, throwing a piece of paper at him from across the aisle. Arnold jumped awake when the paper hit him in the head. He rubbed his eyes and looked at Gerald, who was seated next to him watching a movie with headphones in. Gerald just shrugged at him. "Sorry, man."

Arnold fastened his seatbelt and Gerald's movie suddenly went black, then being replaced with the American Airlines logo. Arnold pulled up the shade of the tiny window next to him and watched as the plane approached the landing strip. He felt a bump as the plane came in contact with the ground.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Heathrow Airport. Local time is 12:30 pm and the temperature is 21 degrees celsius. Please remain seated with your seatbelt on until the captain turns the fasten seat belt sign off and we are parked at the gate. If you are on the connecting flight to Barcelona, Spain, please remain seated in the cabin. Remember to check for any personal belongings on the floor or in the overhead bins. On behalf of American Airlines, I'd like to thank you for choosing to fly with us as we know you have a lot of options out there. Have a great day and enjoy London, England."

When the "fasten your seatbelt" sign went off, Arnold and the rest of the passengers got up and started to grab their bags from the bins. Arnold grabbed his small carry on and saw Helga struggling to get hers down. He put his hand on her shoulder and she turned and looked at him. "Let me," He said. He reached for her bag, but she grabbed it before him. "I can do it myself, thanks," Helga said, before turning down the aisle. Arnold sighed and followed Julían, Gerald and Phoebe out of the plane.

"We've been waiting at this baggage claim for an 45 minutes! Where is our luggage?" Helga yelled angrily at no one in particular, stomping her foot on the ground and placing her hands on her hips. "Maybe it was lost?" Phoebe said.

"Ladies and gentleman, we regret to inform you that the luggage from American Airlines flight 52 has been delayed. Its estimated time of arrival is 10 pm. Again, we are sorry for the inconvenience. Mesdames et Messieurs, nous regrettons-"

"I can't believe this!" Helga said. "Well we might as well go to the hotel and wait for our luggage to get here," Julían said.

The group climbed out of the taxi and walked into the hotel. Helga marched up to the front desk and dropped her carry-on back onto it. The manager looked up at her with a smile. "Can I help you?" He asked. "Yeah, we have a couple rooms reserved under the name Julían Vargas." The manager nodded and looked through a computer.

"I'm sorry, but there has been a complication with your rooms. They will be ready at 6pm. But you're welcome to sit in our lounge area until your rooms are ready. I also have some brochures if you want to sight-see around London-"

"You mean to tell me that our rooms aren't ready, after our luggage was lost and we were sitting on a 7 hour flight?!" Helga yelled. The manager, clearly startled, only nodded in a response. Helga turned away from the manager and threw up her hands. "This is a freaking nightmare!"

"Well we can go walk around London. I have always wanted to see Buckingham Palace," Phoebe said. Helga shook her head. "Sorry Pheebs, I have business to attend to in Paris. I'm going to catch the next train, since we can't even check into our rooms for 6 hours," Helga said, shooting a glare at the manager, who cowered a little bit behind the desk. Phoebe nodded. "Ok, we'll split up, and meet back here at at least 9 so we can go pick up our luggage from the airport."

Helga turned to the manager again. "Take care of this, please," she said, leaving her bag on the desk and walking out the front door. Arnold ran after her. "Helga, wait!" He called. Helga turned around abrubtly, causing him to almost crash into her. "What?" She said. "I want to come with you." Helga glared at him for a moment, but turned on her heel and began walking again. "Whatever floats your boat, I guess."

Helga studied a map furiously. "It will take us about an two and a half hours to get to there," she said aloud. "That gives me a good amount of time." Arnold coughed awkwardly into his hand. "So...what is this "business you have to take care of in Paris?" He asked. "Oh just something I need to say to someone," Helga said, not taking her eyes off the map. Arnold looked outside the window at the scenery passing by quickly. He hoped the train ride would go by quickly.

"If I may have your attention, we are now arriving in Paris, France. Please remember to grab your belongings as you exit the train. Thank you for traveling with us. Attention. Nous sommes maintenant..."

Helga stood up and walked of the train, Arnold following closely behind her. She kept her eyes glued to the map, except for occasionally surveying where they were. "Helga, do you know where we are going-"

"Excusez-moi, pourriez-cous me dire où Chez Paris est?" Helga asked some woman walking her dog. "Oui, Il est dans le coin gauche," the woman replied. "Merci," Helga mumbled and walked off, leaving Arnold stunned.

"You speak French?" Arnold asked, once he caught up with her. "And you speak Spanish, what of it?" Helga said. "Nothing...I just never knew that about you," Arnold said. "That's very sophisticated," he said, winking at her. Helga stopped. "Thanks," she said quietly, and then began walking again. She turned into a restaurant called Chez Paris. "Chez Paris? Don't we have this restaurant back home?" Arnold asked. "Yup. This is the original one," Helga said.

Arnold looked around the restaurant. It was dimly lit with candles sitting atop each table. The tables were lined with white table cloths and small chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Flowers were placed in small parts throughout the restaurant. It was like the one back home, but much larger. Helga stomped up to the host stand. "Garçon, I'd like to speak to your head chef," she said. When the host only looked blankly back at her, she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Laissez-moi parler à votre chef! Vite! Vite!" She said, shooing him away with her hands.

The host soon returned with a man wearing a chef's uniform. "Oui, mademoiselle?" The chef asked. Helga crossed her arms. "Je voudrais que vous sachiez que 'cervelles braisees avec les œuf brouillés' es terrible et ne doit pas être servi. Je ne pourrai jamais les manger à nouveau! Passez un bonne journée." She then turned and stormed out. The chef and host looked shocked as she walked out. They then looked at Arnold, who was just as shocked as they were. "Uh...I'm sorry about that. Je...Je suis désolé?" He said, hoping that meant that he was sorry. He then turned and ran after Helga.

"What did you say in there? They seemed pretty unhappy," He asked. Helga waved her hand. "Oh I just told them that cow brains and eggs is disgusting and should not be served and that I would never eat that again."

"So that was your business? You came all the way to Paris to tell them that you don't like their food?" Arnold asked. "Yes. Well, that, and I've always dreamed of coming here. It feels good to speak French again," Helga said. Arnold chuckled at her as they walked down the cobblestone road.

So...cow brains and eggs, huh?" He said. "Yup. Never get them, they're the worst," Helga said. Arnold nodded, "Yeah, I remember when you first tried them, you were throwing up in the bathroom for a while." Helga froze in place, making Arnold smirk. "What, you didn't think I would figure out who you were, Cecile?"

A/N: Okay, I know this chapter is rough, so I apologize. I also speak Spanish, some Portuguese and Italian, but I've always been crap at French. So I had to use google translate for most of the parts in French. If anything is wrong let me know! Thanks so much for reading!


End file.
